International Courant
On Thursday, The New York Instances revealed a prolonged story in regards to the rise in energy of Stephen Miller, a longtime loyalist of Donald Trump recognized for his hardline views on immigration. Usually, a narrative like that would not get a lot consideration within the tech press. However the piece opened with an anecdote about Mark Zuckerberg that instantly raised eyebrows.
The story detailed a latest assembly Miller had with Zuckerberg when the Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago final 12 months. In line with The Instances, Zuckerberg — who would quickly resign Meta’s prior reality checking efforts and ditch company range packages — “blamed his former chief working officer, Sheryl Sandberg, for an inclusivity initiative at Fb that inspired workers’ self-expression within the office. “
That line set off a recent spherical of hypothesis (and a few outrage) in tech circles. Sandberg, who left Meta in 2022 and rose to fame after authoring her girls within the office manifesto Lean In, was recognized for her as soon as shut partnership with Zuckerberg on the prime of Fb. That Zuckerberg would blame his former prime lieutenant for fostering “inclusivity” at his firm, raised eyebrows even amongst long-time observers of the corporate.
“She at all times knew who Mark Zuckerberg and lined for him,” New York Instances reporter Sheera Frankel, who co-wrote a e-book about Fb’s dominance, noticed on Bluesky. “The query is whether or not she’s going to proceed to take action when he so blatantly throws her underneath the (Trump) bus.” Journalist and longtime tech pundit Kara Swisher likewise famous that “of us I talked to tonight from the Mark/Sheryl Fb period are shocked however not stunned by his blaming her.”
I additionally weighed in on my Threads account, sharing a hyperlink to a Enterprise Insider story from February that quoted an interview by which Zuckerberg stated that Sandberg had raised him “like a father or mother.” I joked that the remark hadn’t aged effectively.
However on Friday, Zuckerberg determined to let me (and I suppose everybody else) know that he and Sandberg are nonetheless cool, in any case. “Sheryl did wonderful work at Meta and can eternally be a legend within the business,” he wrote in a reply to my publish. “She constructed one of many biggest companies of all time and taught me a lot of what I do know.”
Threads
A couple of minutes later, Sandberg jumped in to helpfully let me know there are not any arduous emotions on her facet, both. “Thanks, @zuck. I’ll at all times be pleased about the various years we spent constructing a terrific enterprise collectively – and in your friendship that obtained me via a number of the hardest occasions of my life and continues to today.”
Zuckerberg responded with a single coronary heart emoji.
I requested Zuckerberg if he felt Sandberg was too targeted on DEI initiatives at Meta, or whether or not she took away from the “masculine power” he just lately informed Joe Rogan firms ought to embody. Notably, he has not denied The Instances’ reporting about his feedback relating to Sandberg, though he claimed they’re being misunderstood.
“I answered a query about the place the phrase ‘convey your entire self to work’ got here from, and now there’s a complete bogus narrative saying I blamed Sheryl for a bunch of stuff that I by no means did and by no means will,” he stated. (Bringing your “entire self” to work is a slogan popularized by Sandberg in Lean In. Comparable language typically appeared on Meta’s careers web site when the corporate highlighted range amongst its workers. “Being your genuine self is the muse of who we’re as an organization,” Meta wrote on a since-deleted web page of its company web site the place it shared its inside range studies.)
So, I suppose that settles it. Nothing to see right here, of us. Mark and Sheryl are positively nonetheless associates. They might not work on the identical firm anymore, however they’re nonetheless capable of come collectively to go off a possible PR disaster. What may very well be extra inspiring than that?
Replace, January 17, 2025, 4PM PT: This publish was up to date to mirror an extra remark from Zuckerberg.
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg need you to know they’re nonetheless associates and positively not mad at one another
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